PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — The three-and-a-half-foot putt looked deceptively simple. Short enough to expect to drop, long enough to invite doubt. For Jacob Bridgeman on Sunday at The Genesis Invitational, it represented the culmination of a dream, and the agonizing weight of a rapidly shrinking lead.
Bridgeman, 26, held on for a one-stroke victory at Riviera Country Club, finishing at 18-under 266. The win, his first on the PGA Tour, was far more fraught with tension than the six-shot cushion he carried into the final round suggested. Rory McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama both finished at 17-under, pushing Bridgeman to the brink.
“This morning I thought it would be a lot easier than it was,” Bridgeman admitted after the round. “I don’t think it will get any easier than a six-shot lead so I’ve got to figure out how to make that gap bigger to finish the day.”
The day began promisingly for Bridgeman. He birdied the first hole to maintain his advantage, and added another at the third, stretching his lead to seven shots. But the comfortable margin began to erode as the round progressed. Bogeys on the fourth and seventh holes chipped away at his lead, and a stellar charge from McIlroy and Kitayama ratcheted up the pressure.
McIlroy, fueled by a determined push and a vocal crowd, holed out from a bunker on the 12th, igniting a spark. He closed with back-to-back birdies, including a 30-footer on the 18th that briefly threatened to force a playoff. Kitayama, starting the day nine shots back, fired a remarkable 7-under 64, applying maximum pressure on Bridgeman.
“I had a couple unfortunate breaks and it got a lot tighter than I wanted it to,” Bridgeman said. “Some guys started making a little run and they got a little closer.”
The real drama unfolded on the closing stretch. Bridgeman found himself in trouble on both the 16th and 17th, forced to play conservatively to avoid further damage. A bogey on 16 narrowed the lead to one stroke, setting the stage for a nail-biting finish.
“It was honestly easy until I got to about 16 and then it got really hard,” Bridgeman said. “I can’t believe it. I made it about as hard as I could have made it I think at the end, making it one shot and having to make a three-footer, yeah, this is incredible.”
As he stood over the final putt, Bridgeman confessed to a strange sensation. “I lost feeling in my hands,” he said. He recalled a conversation with fellow Tour player Chris Gotterup, who had described a similar experience during a recent win. “He said, ‘I have no idea, I couldn’t feel my hands.’ I thought he was kind of crazy until I got to this moment and then I was like, yep, I understand what you’re talking about now, Chris.”
The putt, a relatively straightforward three-and-a-half-footer, felt monumental. The crowd held its breath. And watching from a perch overlooking the 18th green was Tiger Woods, the tournament host and a golfing legend who had never managed to win at Riviera.
Bridgeman calmly stroked the putt, and it tracked true, dropping into the hole for the victory. The crowd erupted, and Woods walked to the green to congratulate the young champion. “He said, ‘You’ve got one on me,’” Bridgeman recounted, smiling. “So I guess he’s never won yet. I got one thing. He’s got all the other ones.”
Bridgeman’s victory is particularly noteworthy as he is the first player since Scott in 2005 to win The Genesis Invitational in his first appearance at Riviera. His win also shakes up the FedEx Cup standings, positioning him well for the remainder of the season.
The win is a testament to Bridgeman’s steady progress and the support system he’s built around him. He credited his swing coach, Scott Hamilton, for helping him refine his technique, and his caddie, G.W. Cable, for taking a chance on him when others might not have. “He took a gamble on me and luckily we only spent one year down there and I think he’s pretty pleased with his gamble,” Bridgeman said.
While Bridgeman’s victory is a personal triumph, it also carries a symbolic weight. He has achieved something that even Woods, the tournament’s namesake and a dominant force in golf, could not: win at Riviera Country Club. It’s a moment Bridgeman will cherish, a victory that surpasses even his wildest dreams.
